The government is planning to start subsidizing organic milk in the Finnish schools.
From the beginning of the fall, the government will start targeting the EU subsidy for milk and vegetables to domestic organic fruit, vegetables and milk. The subsidy is aimed at schoolchildren. The pupils in Finnish schools drink EU-subsidized milk for about 18 million liters yearly.
The subsidy paid for the distribution of the organic milk would be 27 cents per liter while ordinary milk would receive support for only nine cents.
“In Finland, we want to put emphasis on the organic products. The kitchens of municipalities and cities can affect the consumption of the products with their own decisions. The goal is that day-care centers and schools could serve more often domestic, organically produced milk and vegetables,” said Kimmo Tiilikainen, the minister of agriculture and environment, in a bulletin.
Finland will also start subsidizing the distribution of fruit and vegetables. The subsidy would, according to the early plans, be paid to about ten products, most of them Finnish. Organic products would receive support for 75 percent and regularly produced products would receive 65 percent from the sales price without tax.
The subsidies would primarily be directed to the students in elementary schools and because of the “relatively high support” the subsidy would be paid only when the domestic season is at its best.
The domestic agriculture has suffered setbacks ever since Russia started slamming bans on Finnish forage and fodder and meat and cheese. These so-called counter-sanctions are the result of the sanctions set by the EU against Russia after it annexed Crimea in Ukraine in 2014.
